You Asked for It and Apple Delivered, ‘Dark Mode’ Is Officially Coming to iOS

During the annual Worldwide Developers Conference keynote this past Monday, Apple introduced iOS 10 and detailed several of the exciting features that the operating system brings. Incredible updates to Siri and a plethora of apps, including the Messages, Photos, News, Maps, and Music apps bring some long-requested features and some innovative new ideas to the OS. However, since the keynote, developers have been uncovering some fantastic new features that Apple didn’t reveal during the iOS demo. Another long-requested feature, however, was just discovered yesterday – an early version of “Dark Mode”.

Users have requested a darkened theme for iOS for quite some time. A theme that could theoretically turn Apple’s bright white theme to black could be easier on the eyes in certain dark environments, not to mention easier on the battery. Users have requested the feature since iOS 6, and some have created elaborate workarounds to enable such a feature in previous versions of iOS. However, it’s beginning to look as if a workaround won’t be necessary for users in iOS 10 – a Dark Mode may exist natively in the OS.

Developer Andrew Wilk tweeted some screenshots yesterday of what appears to be an early version of Dark Mode in the first beta of iOS 10 inside Xcode. Wilk’s tweet showed the Messages app with a dramatically darkened theme, and “Mac Aficionados” subsequently tweeted out photos of the Clock, Safari, and iTunes apps, all with a darkened theme. Although the feature isn’t yet available to users who don’t dig for it, it is hidden in the operating system, and will likely be a part of a later release.

Earlier this week, several AppleInsider readers discovered that asking Siri to “turn on Dark Mode” in the first iOS 10 beta prompts a “Sorry, but I’m not able to change that setting” response, as opposed to the usual “I don’t understand” answer from Siri.

Although the feature has, at the moment, only been found in certain apps, many developers that have uncovered the feature theorize that Dark Mode will be available OS-wide in later releases of iOS 10. Many also speculate that Apple is preparing Dark Mode for the transition to AMOLED displays that are heavily rumored for the 2017 iPhone release. It is possible that the feature will be ready by the official release of iOS 10 this coming fall, but it’s more likely that Dark Mode will be available in later versions, just as Night Shift was made available in iOS 9.3.

Where would you use Dark Mode on your iPhone or iPad? Let us know in the comments!